The present disclosure relates generally to molecular filters.
Assays and other sensing systems have been used in the chemical, biochemical, medical and environmental fields to detect the presence and/or concentration of one or more chemical substances. Some sensing techniques utilize color or contrast for substance detection and measurement, for example, those techniques based upon reflectance, transmittance, fluorescence, or phosphorescence. Other sensing techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy or surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes in a system. When performing any of these sensing techniques, it may be desirable to filter out or collect certain molecules (e.g., analytes of interest) from a fluid for analysis, while allowing other molecules in the fluid to pass. Filters are often based upon the cross-sectional area of the molecules. As such, larger molecules are filtered out, while smaller molecules are allowed to pass through the filter.